After a string of historic losses at the ballot box over the past year, Merkel agreed to make way for a new leader of her Christian Democrats (CDU), heralding the dénouement of her career at the center of German politics — and possibly an early end to her chancellorship.

The move, which Merkel announced at a meeting of the CDU’s executive committee Monday morning and later at a press conference, may not have been a huge surprise after the party’s heavy losses in Sunday’s regional election in Hesse, yet it nonetheless shocked political Berlin, given the profound implications it will have on the country’s future.

The decision injects further instability into German politics, increasing the likelihood that Merkel’s grand coalition with the Social Democrats (SPD), already hanging by a thread, will collapse in the coming months. What’s more, it now appears inevitable that the race to succeed her atop the CDU will unleash a bitter battle over its direction, one that will further distract the party from governing.

“The government’s image is unacceptable" — Angela Merkel

Merkel will also become less influential on the European stage, where she has been the pre-eminent political figure for more than a decade. She said she did not want another job after she ends her final term as chancellor, scotching speculation that she might take a top EU post.

“Today, it’s time to begin a new chapter,” Merkel said, calling recent developments a “turning point” as she explained her decision. “The government’s image is unacceptable.”

Succession race begins

While Merkel said she intends to remain chancellor until the end of the legislative period in 2021, her decision not to run again for the CDU’s chairmanship when her term expires in December unleashed forces she can no longer control.

That became clear within minutes of her announcement leaking, as it emerged that Friedrich Merz, a longtime Merkel rival with a strong following among CDU traditionalists, is likely to throw his hat in the ring to replace her.

If either Merz or Spahn wins the race to succeed Merkel, there’s a good chance she would step down as chancellor, triggering a new election.

Over the years (including as recently as last month), Merkel has repeatedly stressed the importance of holding both the office of chancellor and the leadership of the CDU. Dividing the powers leads to competition and conflict, Merkel has argued, unless the two leaders work hand in glove.

On Monday, Merkel said she has proved over the years that she can work together with just about anyone. After weighing the pros and cons of splitting the leadership, she decided to go forward.

She insisted the move wasn’t triggered by Sunday’s election, but by her decision over the summer, which she had not previously shared with the public, not to pursue another term as chancellor. Handing over the reins of the party now would ease the transition and allow the CDU, still Germany’s dominant party despite recent losses, to retain its strength, she argued. If Merkel really planned Monday's move months ago, she kept the decision close to her chest, not even telling Kramp-Karrenbauer, who on Sunday evening insisted Merkel intends to run again for the CDU chairmanship.

Conservative critics

It’s no secret that Merkel has positioned Kramp-Karrenbauer, a former leader of the state of Saarland whose political views and demeanor are similar to Merkel’s own, to replace her. Whether Merkel and Merz, whom the chancellor ousted as leader of the CDU parliamentary group in 2002, can get along is more than questionable.

Merz, a successful commercial lawyer who heads the German supervisory board of investment giant BlackRock, has been a persistent critic of Merkel’s for years, calling her move to pursue another grand coalition earlier this year a “humiliation” for the CDU.

Gauging Merz’s chances to replace Merkel is difficult. Though he has a strong network among conservatives in the party, he gave up his seat in the Bundestag nearly a decade ago.

For Merkel, working with Spahn, who has regularly attacked her controversial refugee policies, would be no easier. Merkel tried and failed to prevent Spahn, who is 38 and enjoys a strong following among the party’s youth wing, from joining both her Cabinet and the CDU’s leadership committee.

That she would be willing to spend the twilight of her political career sharing power with the outspoken Spahn looking over her shoulder seems unlikely.

Though its not yet clear what political course either Merz or Spahn would pursue as CDU leader, it’s likely that, in contrast to Kramp-Karrenbauer, they would break with Merkel’s centrist strategy on issues such as Europe and migration.

A persistent critique of Merkel in the CDU’s more conservative quarters has long been that she moved the party too far to the left, abandoning its roots. Much of that criticism has focused on the refugee crisis but it extends to social issues as well, with Merkel skeptics accusing her of steering the party away from its traditional values on family and religion. Merkel’s belief that “Islam is a part of Germany” is one of a number of her positions that conservatives take issue with.

For most of her time atop the party, Merkel’s broad popularity in Germany has been a powerful weapon in silencing those who oppose her. The fact that she led the CDU to four victories in federal elections was a strong argument for the party to follow her lead, even if many in the base disagree with her.

Her decision to step back corresponds with the erosion of her popular appeal, which began with the party’s poor showing in last year’s federal election, when it lost more than 20 percent of its support. Merkel's failed effort to build a three-way coalition with the Greens and Free Democrats after the election, which left the country in political limbo for months, deepened voter frustration. Merkel managed to cobble together another grand coalition in February, but the infighting that ensued, especially within her own conservative bloc, did what may prove to be irreparable damage to her government's reputation.

The recent elections both in Bavaria and Sunday’s poll in Hesse offer further evidence that the public is increasingly dissatisfied with Merkel’s government. Opinion surveys for Germany as a whole point to a similarly dim picture, with the CDU and its sister party, the Bavarian CSU, scoring just 24 percent in a benchmark poll released last week, the worst showing since Merkel became chancellor in 2005.

Though Merkel’s personal approval ratings remain relatively high — she currently ranks as the country’s third-most popular politician — the CDU no longer benefits from the power of her personality as it once did.

The loss of support is due in part to the continued fallout from her 2015 call to keep Germany’s borders open to an unprecedented wave of refugees, a decision that fueled the meteoric rise of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD). Yet it’s also a natural evolution of a political career that is among Germany’s longest.

In that regard, Merkel’s announcement on Monday is more notable for its timing than the substance; no one expected her to run again for the chancellery, the only question was when and how she would set the stage for her departure.

Merkel’s diminishing influence within her own ranks became apparent last month when Volker Kauder, her close ally, was voted down as head of the CDU parliamentary group, a key post, in favor of a challenger.

That defeat, which came unexpectedly, doesn’t bode well for Merkel’s plan to install Kramp-Karrenbauer as her successor at the helm of the CDU. Though “AKK,” as Kramp-Karrenbauer is known within the party, has a strong network within the organization, the internal pressure for a clean break with the Merkel era after 18 years may prove too great.

In addition to Merkel’s backing, geography may also play in Kramp-Karrenbauer’s favor. Both Merz and Spahn are from North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany’s most populous state. Trouble is, Ralph Brinkhaus, the new head of the parliamentary group, also hails from the state. A party leader from the state would upend the balance the party has traditionally sought to maintain between the regions.

The CDU prides itself as an anchor of stability, both in Germany and in Europe. But when change comes, it can be swift and brutal — as when Merkel broke with former Chancellor Helmut Kohl in 1999 amid a party financing scandal.

Merkel herself seemed to take a fatalistic view of what comes next.

“I once said that I wasn’t born as chancellor and I’ve never forgotten that,” she said.

Related stories on these topics:

e c

Is this a joke: “Chancellor’s decision to step down as party chief means instability for her country and for Europe.” ?

So what we have now in the EU thanks to her – if it is not “instability” already ?
More “instability” means probably riots and civic war between Europeans and invaders.

Posted on 10/29/18 | 4:06 PM CET

Anman Pickford

So long and thanks for nothing. Merkel has guaranteed indefinite social and political turmoil across the EU thanks to her insane decision in 2015 to invite well over a million (mostly unskilled) economic migrants from the Middle East into Germany (and in practice, the rest of Europe). These migrants do not want to integrate and hold values which are in complete contradiction to a liberal society.

Posted on 10/29/18 | 4:08 PM CET

Jacques Boote

Soon be paying compensation for diesel gate then?
Germany to pay compensation to all countries for their pollution? So much for a level playing field when the Germans habitually break all the EU’s anti-pollution rules and regs.

Posted on 10/29/18 | 4:09 PM CET

Miles O'Toole

Merkel, those you kicked while you were at the top are lining up to kick you as you fall.
Enjoy your downfall.

Posted on 10/29/18 | 4:11 PM CET

contango one

unrepentant n dishonest to the very end

her announcement today had nothing to do with yesterday’s result right, but was decided in the summer, n by some crazy coincidence just happened to be announced today right

so if somehow cdu would have picked 52% of the vote yesterday she would still have announced today right?

thats what the problem is; stay too long in power and you start thinking you’re addressing morons

she really deserves to go down in disgrace n humiliation for what she did 3 yrs ago endangering the entire western civilization

its time the german leadership structure showed some spine n forced her out

she really must NOT be allowed to finish her term
she must pay for what she did

Posted on 10/29/18 | 4:11 PM CET

Alan Ritchie

Leader of the Free World to Lame Duck in one move…

Posted on 10/29/18 | 5:25 PM CET

Marta Gawin

The end of an era :(.
I remind her critics that the immigrants from Africa have been escaping a war torn country. Where would you want them to go to? Deep into African land where poverty is already shreding large parts of communities?
I wish that instead of radical, far right groups of politicians she was surrounded by more progressive ones in her time of reign now and in the past because while we see that the problem with Islam starts when its radical clerics manipulate verses of Koran and brainwash people on a large scale, more political support is needed for solutions to that situation rather than empty anger at the groups of immigrants.
After all, that’s what the politicians are for – to solve political problems both around their own country, and in its connection to a larger, global context.

Posted on 10/29/18 | 5:36 PM CET

Donal O'Brien

Att Comment

Dear Comment

Here’s a NIGHTMARE to keep you awake Day or Night

MUTTI or SCHAUBLE replacing DRUNKER

Or

And here’s a pickmeup for the People of the FATHERLAND
Wolfgang SCHAUBLE as reserve CHANCELLOR to give everyone the chance to settle down ?

A Nightmare indeed

The pain goes on

Cheers for Brexit
Allways
Donal O’Brien

Posted on 10/29/18 | 5:40 PM CET

Tony Browne

So, Theresa May is looking pretty ‘strong and stable’ after all.

Posted on 10/29/18 | 6:13 PM CET

Elanor Rigby

Why have Politico used a 15 year old airbrushed image of Merkel?

Posted on 10/29/18 | 6:22 PM CET

Peppe Coppola

C’mon guys, don’t be such a drama queen, no turmoil neither instability, just a salutary shift from the pre-ordered and moral biased conformism of the last two decades. Europeans are fed up to the teeth of your right-thinking crap

Posted on 10/29/18 | 6:37 PM CET

Jacques Boote

Tell you what though, after Merkel has gone, who will stop the AfD taking over the EU ?

Posted on 10/29/18 | 7:38 PM CET

EU doublestandards

“It’s no secret that Merkel has positioned Kramp-Karrenbauer, a former leader of the state of Saarland whose political views and demeanor are similar to Merkel’s own, to replace her.”

What would be the point of that? The CDU is haemorrhaging votes because Merkel’s policies and decisions are unpopular. Why on Earth would the party replace her with an exact duplicate?

Posted on 10/29/18 | 7:44 PM CET

Annette Kertain

Erdoğan to run for chancellor.

Posted on 10/29/18 | 7:47 PM CET

Annette Kertain

Merkel the bore.

Posted on 10/29/18 | 7:48 PM CET

Annette Kertain

Hubble Bubble toil and German Afd Trouble !

Posted on 10/29/18 | 7:55 PM CET

Dara Mahoney

I have never heard of Friedrich Merz – Mr Tufty ?

Posted on 10/29/18 | 7:57 PM CET

r s

the vitriolic hateful comments prove how strong she leader she was

Posted on 10/29/18 | 8:02 PM CET

Marcus Titanium

The real question is about Merkel’s continuing membership of the shadowy “Coudenhoef Kalergi” group which is dedicated to the destruction of the ethnic European people’s through promoting mysegination.

Posted on 10/29/18 | 8:09 PM CET

Jacques Boote

I believe both Merkel and Juncker are big (major) members of that Kalergi group?

Posted on 10/29/18 | 8:20 PM CET

kaninchen schwanz

Olaf Scholz has been known to attend Bilderberg Group meetings.

Posted on 10/29/18 | 10:39 PM CET

Colin Chapman

Is that a homsexual German leather thing? No, I’m not interested in that way.
I just like those crazy red flags n stuff.

Posted on 10/29/18 | 10:52 PM CET

florin silberman

@ Marta Gawin,
“…the immigrants from Africa have been escaping a war torn country….”
Which country is that please?
Did the Russians or the British or the Belgians, ran away from their ravaged countries during WWII??
How about the UN refugee agency stating that most migrants are ECONOMIC migrants?
People originally of migrant origin but already in Europe for two or three generations have had enough time to understand that the clerics are wrong but they do not want to and are more radicalized than ever.
There are certain surate (verses) of the Koran that are extremely clear in their meaning and intent and do not need “cleric manipulation” to convince followers. And these verses are not at all benign regarding the non believers.

Posted on 10/30/18 | 12:43 AM CET

Ghost of JB

Götterdämmerung…

Posted on 10/30/18 | 1:46 AM CET

Jake Mann

Good grief, she’s only stepping down as party leader, not as chancellor. You may, of course, start panicking in 2021 when she won’t seek re-election.

Posted on 10/30/18 | 5:20 AM CET

Jake Mann

@Jacques Boote
“Soon be paying compensation for diesel gate then?”

Nah, you won’t get compensation for a car you shall never be able to afford and never bought.

You may, of course, try and get compensation for your sore posterior from the manufacturer of your bike. Alternatively, you could start picking ENGLISH CABBAGE in 2019.

Posted on 10/30/18 | 5:23 AM CET

Jake Mann

@Donal O’Booze
“Here’s a NIGHTMARE to keep you awake Day or Night

MUTTI or SCHAUBLE replacing DRUNKER”

I am looking forward to Mutti move to Brussels soon in whatever Job after her chancellorship will have ended in autumn of 2021.

It will be a great pleasure to see her kicking the posterior of the then UK’s PM when they come begging with their Article 49 letter. It will be a strong and stable kick after her having enjoyed all those yummy cherrycakes.

Posted on 10/30/18 | 5:32 AM CET

Jake Mann

@Tony Browne
“So, Theresa May is looking pretty ‘strong and stable’ after all.”

LOL. Of course, she needs her strong stability when she is going to be Mutti in November and December again to pleeeeeeeeeaaaaaze help her getting a trade deal. Which Mutti will deny her, as usual.

Jake Mann

The Brexitscum posting here aren’t but shaggy teethless englis dogs barking at Germany and France in despair – because they never could make it to the economical and political top inside the EU.

Their envy poisons their miserable little lives. Only theirs, on the continent, one ignores them with blasée insouciance. As one does with those dregs.

Posted on 10/30/18 | 5:45 AM CET

Jake Mann

@kaninchen schwanz
“Olaf Scholz has been known to attend Bilderberg Group meetings.”

Sweetheart, get ye new specs so you can actually see who participates in the meetings you chair.

Posted on 10/30/18 | 5:48 AM CET

Donal O'Brien

Att Comment

@ Jake Mann

MUTTI
Today for the FATHERLAND
Tomorrow for the FATHERLAND
ETERNITY for the FATHERLAND

It has allways been so and will never CHANGE

I suppose your going to tell us or threaten us you’ll go BACK to your Own CURRENCY like F–K would be trading at least 30/40% above the Euro
I can hear Wolfgang S with his Gutterel tone we will bring them in to LINE WITH OUR FATHERLAND

Anything Vivacious M did was for Germany and Germany only
But like all Egotists especially Germans
RULE over Europe was and is still the AIM

As to airbrushing MUTTI even Reincarnation God forbid wouldn’t improve it

The above is the Truth face it

Cheers for Brexit
Allways
Donal O’Brien

So who comes next ? another FANATIC
Same Old Story once Germanys ok let the rest Cry Foul

Posted on 10/30/18 | 8:44 AM CET

blue bell

@Jake Mann

Prissy shouldn’t that be Fake Mann?

How are you my sweet? Long time no hear. I hope you have been keeping yourself out of trouble but I doubt it.

I have a particularly fine recipe to share if you are interested.

Posted on 10/30/18 | 12:39 PM CET

Jake Mann

@blue bell
“Ihave a particularly fine recipe to share if you are interested.”

Sweetheart, busy setting up a second residence in Paris. We bought another house over there. Does not equate to “trouble” in my books :-D. We don’t wish to lower our living standards after a hard brexit. Cabbage and fries are your standard, not ours ….

Not interested in your recipes. Also there, cooking will be done by a housekeeper. Early onset dementia, my love? I thought I’d mentioned that I don’t do household chores.

Posted on 10/30/18 | 2:36 PM CET

Latimer Alder

EU in turmoil?

Oh Dear. How Sad. Never Mind.

Viva 100% Brexit!

Posted on 10/30/18 | 4:24 PM CET

blue bell

@Fake Mann
Sorry to hear you intend to stay a one dimensional character. Nevertheless I wish you joy in your new residence.

psst! I have never eaten cabbage with fries – did you enjoy it?
mit freundlich grüßen

Tschüss xxx

Posted on 10/30/18 | 4:50 PM CET

EU doublestandards

@Jake Mann
“Sweetheart, get ye new specs so you can actually see who participates in the meetings you chair.”

Hello Cilla. The sex change is working out well then?

Posted on 10/30/18 | 5:23 PM CET

Donal O'Brien

Att Comment

Dear Politico

I have no doubt that the treatment we applied to that previously Headcase who we have not encountered now for some Time

Has slipped back under another ALIAS of a Germanic Nature
But there is no doubt what it says that this Imbecile is still Moving or could be even Crawling among us

I do hope those natives of the United Germanic Region will send out a search Party to apprehend this Crazy Goblin

It may even be better that the Posse are told to Shot on Sight as I have to admit there is no Hope Now No matter what is Applied

O sorry a Name the most up-to-date that we have was found through a Gypsie Congregation who said yes they did see a Wild whatever ROAMING Serenading the Moon
When asked it’s name it replies I’m JAKE MANN late of BATTERSEA and 7 Cats
I can also confirm goes by the Name or Names

BALLS /PHIL THE HOSE /DU BLEU
Take it out of its Misery not for my sake but for it’s SELF
Make sure the final includes a STAKE THROUGH THE HEART

Posted on 10/30/18 | 5:33 PM CET

Donal O'Brien

Att Comment

In my last submission I should have stressed in releation to

JAKE MANN aka BALLS PHIL THE HOSE DU BLEU
That it is not Buried in CONSECRATED GROUND
Cremation will Suffice

Cheers for Brexit
Allways
Donal O’Brien

Posted on 10/30/18 | 5:38 PM CET

Tom Cullem

It wasn’t Merkel’s decision to step down that brought instability to Germany and the EU (and my guess is that the “instability” for Europe will be quite a bit less evident than projected by those blinded by the Myth of Merkel), but her decision to unilaterally open the gates to Europe to more than one million unvetted Muslim migrants, many of whom were not Syrian refugees. She compounded that error with the attempted forced annual, permanent, migrant quotas. And that error was compounded by the total failure of the programme as nations simply refused to obey.

Those were her bad decisions; her decision to step aside is the only right one she’s made since 2015.

Posted on 10/30/18 | 6:54 PM CET

Veritas Semper

Well, the “french-makeup-boy” aka Macron must be weeping in his pillow tonight. So many dreams of grandeur shattered, and now no one to talk to take over French debt. Poor “french-makeup-boy”…

Posted on 10/31/18 | 1:38 AM CET

Jake Mann

@miserable donnie
“Make sure the final includes a STAKE THROUGH THE HEART”

I have no heart. I have a brain :-D.

Too bad, none of you dregs shall ever have access to my circles. Which means we – the liberal elite with money to burn – will forever rule you supreme.

So stick your wooden stakes where the sun never shines, into Jacques Boot’s rear. Being a rider of the home bus, he certainly shall enjoy this treat.

BTW, life is GREAT here in my realms of the upper class. And we have a new family member, cat #8.